


i took the stars from our eyes, and then i made a map

by neenswrites



Series: a falling star fell from your heart and landed in my eyes [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Coffee Shops, Fluff, Getting to Know Each Other, Graduate School, KuroKen Week, KuroKen Week 2020, Love at First Sight, M/M, Oblivious Kuroo Tetsurou, Pining Kuroo Tetsurou, Teaching, ish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-16
Updated: 2020-04-16
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:54:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23671147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neenswrites/pseuds/neenswrites
Summary: "Kenma’s a grad student with the design department. I met him when I was trying to get one of them to help me add some flair to my syllabus, and he was the only one willing to help – even if he said it was just so I would leave their office in peace.”“That’s why he looked familiar,” Daichi piped up with a snap of his fingers. “Asahi’s in the design department too, and I think they’ve worked together on some assignments.”“Has this guy just been hanging out with everyone in our mutual circles except me?”“Sounds like it.”-Or, Kuroo is an overworked, underpaid, and almost out of his mind TA. Seeing Kenma a couple times a week makes it all a little easier.
Relationships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou, very very very minor Daisuga
Series: a falling star fell from your heart and landed in my eyes [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1704460
Comments: 35
Kudos: 375
Collections: Kuroken Week 2020, My favorite haikyuu fics, Work's I've Finished





	i took the stars from our eyes, and then i made a map

**Author's Note:**

> i’m a grad student/ta and this is a vent fic AHAHAHA. i don’t study quantum chemistry tho bc im not nerd like kuroo (that’s a joke, sending love to all quantum chemistry students y'all are geniuses) so take pretty much any science below with a VERY LARGE grain of salt
> 
> it’s all pretty self-indulgent but i hope you liked my stress relief in the form of kuroken

Kuroo collapsed onto his chair, not even trying to fight the way his weight made it roll away from his desk. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes as if that would singularly make his impending headache disappear.

“Tough class?”

Kuroo looked up to see Daichi looking down at him with sympathy as he leaned against his desk. Usually he was happy to see another TA in the large, shared office space – it meant he had an excuse to slack off on his work – but right now he kind of wished he could wallow alone.

He felt Daichi kick his char. Kuroo groaned in response.

“That bad?” Daichi laughed. Kuroo was glad someone could feel joy today. “I thought your student were usually pretty good.”

“They are,” Kuroo sighed, unable to not defend the honor of his class. “It’s just that my faculty eval was today, and it was not pretty.”

He scowled just remembering it.

“I thought you were supposed to be evaluated next week?” Daichi asked, pulling another chair over for himself. Kuroo nodded petulantly but gave no verbal response, and Daichi rolled his eyes. “So, then what happened?”

“The stupid departmental meeting happened,” Kuroo grumbled. “They changed it so that it was at the same time as my class next week and made it mandatory that all the department chairs and co-chairs go.”

Daichi grimaced and Kuroo nodded in agreement. “Yeah, so they had to move my evaluation date, and didn’t have room in their schedule to move it further back. So, they bumped it up.”

“Okay, so you didn’t get to get evaluated on the lesson you wanted, but that doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world,” Daichi said in attempt to comfort Kuroo. The only thing was he still didn’t know the half of it. “Who did they assign to evaluate you, Ukai-sensei or Nekomata-sensei?”

“Nekomata-sensei.”

“That’s good then!” Daichi said with a smile. He clapped a hand on Kuroo’s shoulder and Kuroo nearly buckled at the strength. “We all know he has a soft spot for you.”

“You want to know what the lesson was for today?”

“…What?”

“Hydrogen bonds.”

Kuroo watched as Daichi’s face paled and felt a sick sort of satisfaction at the sight. He was finally beginning to understand.

“Hydrogen bonds,” Kuroo repeated near hysterically while pulling at his hair. “The one thing that Nekomata has spent the last 20 years revolutionizing the science of!”

“Okay, it’s fine, it’s not that big a deal,” Daichi said placatingly. “You teach an Intro to Chemistry lab – I doubt you had to go into the higher concepts around it.”

“You would think that,” Kuroo exclaimed. “You really would! Except I’ve got this over eager kid who just so happened to be the _biggest_ fan of the commentary of Nekomata- _hakase_ on hydrogen bonding in modern biochemistry and who asked me countless question about it.”

Daichi finally collapsed back down on his chair, speechless.

“And to make matters worse,” Kuroo continued, because no the story wasn’t over, that would make life way too easy for him. “This kid got the whole class excited about it! It was all they wanted to talk about, so we barely had time for any actual lab work. So the entire lesson was a shit show.”

“…at least it shows they care?”

“I would have rather they all been sleeping.”

“Can you two please quiet down over there!” Oikawa called out from across the room. “Some of us are actually attempting to do work in this office.”

Kuroo squinted his eyes at Oikawa, patience basically nonexistent at this point. He opened his mouth to reply with some snide remark but was interrupted by the sound of knocking.

“I got it,” Daichi said, rising from his seat to open the door. Kuroo desperately hoped it wasn’t one of his students. On any other day he’d be happy to see them, but right now he just wanted to spend his office hours alone.

From the angle of his desk he couldn’t see the person at the door when Daichi opened it, but he could hear an unfamiliar low voice ask, “Is Tooru in here?”

Kuroo blinked. He didn’t know anyone who called Oikawa by his given name.

“Oh, yeah, I think he might be working on something though,” Daichi replied apologetically as he rubbed the back of his neck.

“He should be expecting me,” the voice replied. Kuroo tried leaning over to see if he could catch a look, his curiosity eating at him, and nearly fell over when Daichi moved to allow the person to come in.

Kuroo didn’t think he had a type. He liked attractive people and thought that attractive came in a wide range of options. Sure, he liked it when someone’s hair was on the longer side, but that’s pretty much as far as it went in terms of his preferences.

But this guy walking into the office checked all the boxes he wasn’t even aware he had.

He tried not to make it obvious he was staring at the guy as he made his way towards Oikawa’s desk, but the look he could see Daichi was giving him from the corner of his eyes made it clear he wasn’t successful. Pulling out some assignments he was behind on grading, he pretended to study them as he tried eavesdropping on the conversation happening just a few meters away.

“Ken-chan! You’re early!”

“Don’t call me that.”

“I can call you anything I want when I’m rewriting an entire chapter of my thesis while writing an entirely new syllabus for next semester.”

The stranger – he refused to call him Ken-chan due to the amount of disgust in his voice when he told Oikawa not to– snorted at him, and Kuroo bit his lip to hold back a smile. Cute.

“You were the one who _chose_ to TA while getting your Master’s. You’re not getting any sympathy from me.”

And okay while Kuroo appreciated the dig at Oikawa, he was in literally the same boat as him. So, ouch.

“Kenma,” Oikawa whined, and then Kuroo heard the sound of something hitting the desk. He glanced up quickly to see Oikawa resting his chin against his desk with a pout. “Did you come all the way to this building just to torment me?”

“No, I came to ask if you’d be able to help with what I emailed you about,” the stranger – Kenma he giddily amended – said. His tone of voice hadn’t really changed during the conversation, and Kuroo glanced up again to see if he’d even sat down yet. Nope.

“Oh yeah, I looked at your design and storyline, but I don’t think I’d be a ton of help,” Oikawa replied. He actually sounded apologetic and Kuroo once again wondered who _was_ this guy? “My focus is more thermodynamics, which wouldn’t really help with what you’re looking for.”

Kuroo heard Kenma give quiet sigh. There was the sound of paper rustling, and then, “Kenma you brought them! This looks so good!”

“There are three different designs, which one are you talking about?”

“All of them, I can’t even choose! Maybe I can make a tier system?”

“Please don’t, people are going to associate that with me.”

Curiosity winning out for a third time, Kuroo glanced up again – only to freeze when he saw Kenma looking right back at him. His gaze lingered on him for a moment before he turned back to look at Oikawa. Kuroo released a shuddering breath and refused to look up for the rest of the time that Kenma was in there.

Even when he was saying goodbye and passing by his desk to get to the door, Kuroo kept his body still and his eyes trained on the assignment in front of him. He only relaxed once he heard the door to the office open and close. Slumping back in his seat, he finally looked up again – only to be met with Oikawa’s devilish stare.

“Saw something you liked?”

Kuroo felt himself blush to his roots.

“Oh my, really liked then,” Oikawa teased with a smug smile. “Why Kuroo, what if that was one of my students?”

Kuroo face scrunched up immediately. The guy had been cute and hadn’t looked that young, but if he was still an undergrad – and especially one he could eventually teach in the department – then Kuroo could get over him easily enough.

“Good response,” Oikawa said with a please nod. “He’s not though, so you don’t have to worry about it.”

Kuroo waited a beat for Oikawa to continue, but the other TA just looked at Kuroo with a knowing smile. Kuroo shot him a look that was a mix of annoyance and expectance, but he didn’t waver. Finally relenting, Kuroo let out a long-suffering sigh.

“Oikawa, please tell me more about the guy who was just in here.”

“Don’t play coy like you weren’t listening in for his name,” Oikawa replied. He rested his chin in his hand, and looked down at the sheets that Kenma had brought in. “Kenma’s a grad student with the design department. I met him when I was trying to get one of them to help me add some flair to my syllabus, and he was the only one willing to help – even if he said it was just so I would leave their office in peace.”

“That’s why he looked familiar,” Daichi piped up with a snap of his fingers. Kuroo whirled around at him in disbelief. Had everyone known this guy besides him? “Asahi’s in the design department too, and I think they’ve worked together on some assignments. Plus, I’m pretty sure he’s friends with Hinata.”

“Has this guy just been hanging out with everyone in our mutual circles except me?”

“Sounds like it,” Oikawa said smugly, but his tone didn’t quite match the expression on his face as he continued looking at his documents. Curiosity won out for the nth time that day, and Kuroo walked over to see what it was. Once he reached Oikawa’s desk, he blinked in surprise.

“Wedding invitations?”

He heard Daichi make a questioning noise and come up beside him to look too.

“Yeah,” Oikawa hummed, running his finger across the middle row. The ring on his left hand glistened, and Kuroo would bet any amount of money that Oikawa had practiced the move. “It isn’t really Kenma’s area of focus, but he’s got a really good idea for this stuff. I asked him to come up with three different designs to see which I liked best, but they all just turned out so pretty.”

And Kuroo couldn’t really disagree. All the designs were distinct in style and color choice, but he felt his heart clench at the sight of each of them, and he wasn’t even getting married. But he could see the care that went into all of them, and Kenma had managed to somehow capture Oikawa’s personality perfectly. He let out a small chuckle at the thought and missed to the disgusted look Oikawa was sending him.

“Ugh, fine,” he drawled, pulling he invitations away and tucking them in his drawer. Kuroo frowned, not quite done looking at them, but was distracted by the laptop Oikawa was pushing into his face. “Here. Read this.”

He leaned over to do so, though Oikawa’s continued talking made it more difficult than it needed to be. “Kenma came here to ask if I could help him with this video game he’s designing. The genre is sci-fi and it’s one the biggest projects he’s ever worked on, and he wanted the science in it to be as accurate as possible. Apparently, he wants a lot of quantum chemistry material, and specifically information on bond reactions.”

Kuroo felt himself freeze at his words, and he whipped his head up to look at Oikawa.

“I have quantum chemistry material that are specifically about bond reactions.”

“Yes, I’d gathered that from a year of watching your many breakdowns on the subject.”

“Oikawa, please, please, please give him my information,” Kuroo begged. He knew he’d never live this down if Oikawa had anything to say about it, but he was not about to pass this up. Everything seemed to be pointing him to Kenma, and he was willing to swallow his pride for it.

“Oh, I already did after you got caught glancing over here like a weirdo,” Oikawa said loftily. He pulled his laptop from Kuroo’s stunned grip and turned it around with a smirk. “I didn’t tell him it was _you_ and I planned on teasing you about it more, but you looked so nauseatingly lovesick I couldn’t bare it.”

Distantly, Kuroo heard Daichi snort.

“As if you’re one to talk about—”

“I have Suga on speed dial.”

“Noted.”

They moved on to talking about whether Oikawa had the date set yet for the wedding, but Kuroo had pretty much stopped listening when he was told Kenma had his number.

The man of his dreams had a way to contact him, a reason to contact him, and now all Kuroo had to do was wait for him to do so.

Kuroo had never wished for a text harder in his life, and it seemed like ages until he got it.

It was two days later, after dodging around corners at the first sight of Nekomata and trying to find new ways to get his students excited about the material, that he finally got a text from an unknown number.

xxx-xxxx-318

11:55 _is this Kuroo Tetsurou?_

Kuroo felt his heartrate increase at the sight of the message but refused to let his hopes get too high.

11:55 this is him, who’s this?

11:56 _oh good, my name is Kenma_

11:56 _Kozume Kenma_

11:57 _Did Oikawa mention giving me your number?_

Kuroo resisted the urge to fist bump, and immediately saved the number under Kenma’s name.

11:57 yeah, oikawa did mention you!

11:57 you need help with a video game, right?

11:58 _right_

11:58 _do you know when you’d be free to call?_

Kuroo frowned at his phone. His desire to see Kenma in person notwithstanding, attempting to explain complex theories over the phone wouldn’t be a fun time for anyone. He texted as much to Kenma.

12:00 _ah_

12:00 _so i guess that means we have to meet in person_

12:00 _do you know that café outside of campus by the animal shelter?_

Kuroo confirmed that he was familiar with it and let Kenma set most of the details for their meet up. He hadn’t seemed super ecstatic about meeting in person, so hopefully allowing him to control the time and place would ease some of his concerns.

By the end of it, they were agreeing to meet at the coffee shop at four, with the expectation that it would last them about 30 minutes. Kenma said that’d he’d forward him an email with the general plot of the game, and Kuroo promised he’d look over it before they met.

And look over it he did. By the time Kuroo was stepping into the coffee shop, he was absolutely buzzing with energy. The storyline Kenma had sent him had been incredible, and it gave Kuroo so many ideas for how all sorts of different concepts and theories could fit into it.

Scanning the shop, he was pleasantly surprised to see that Kenma was already there. He’d texted Kuroo letting him know he’d be wearing a red hoodie, but Kuroo didn’t need that to find the near blonde sitting at a table in the corner.

“Hi, Kenma right?”

Kenma looked up at him slowly, eyes widening as he took Kuroo in.

“Oh.”

Kuroo kept his smile on his face, but his mind was going crazy. Oh. Oh? What was that was supposed to mean? Kenma didn’t look like he was going to follow up on that, so Kuroo just nervously chuckled.

“How about I go grab us some drinks, and we can talk after,” he suggested as he placed his bag on the seat. He let out a quiet sigh of relief when Kenma nodded and then Kuroo asked him what he wanted.

“Whatever, I don’t care.”

And maybe he was trying to be polite by not making Kuroo order some elaborate drink, but the lack of direction was causing Kuroo’s nerves to fray at the edges. He fidgeted as he stood in line and studied the menu, trying to figure out what to get Kenma despite knowing absolutely nothing about his drink preferences.

When it was his turn to order, he walked up to the register completely resigned to the fact he was going to mess up. He looked down from the menu to order but paused at the familiar face beaming at him.

“Hello, welcome to Sweet Corner Coffee, what can I get for you?”

Kuroo stared at the guy in front of him intently trying to place where he’d seen him before. He wasn’t one to forget a face, and this guy with freckles was definitely someone he’d met.

“Um, sir, is everything okay?”

Kuroo blinked, and belatedly realized how nervous he was making the poor kid. He opened his mouth to apologize but was interrupted.

“Kuroo-sensei, usually when people come up to the cash register, it means they’re about to order.”

Kuroo snapped his head to the voice and beamed at the sight of his former student.

“Tsukishima!” Kuroo exclaimed at the sight of him. “I had no idea you worked here.”

“Life was better that way,” he replied, and Kuroo laughed in response.

He and Tsukishima had butted heads when he’d taken his class last semester. He was a bright kid, but rarely participated in class – and participation was a pretty large part of his students’ grades. He eventually started trying, and Kuroo was happy to say he ended passing with a near perfect score.

And as he looked back at the other barista, he realized why he looked so familiar. He had often waited for Tsukishima after class, sometimes even coming inside the classroom to wait while Tsukishima tried to debate his grade with Kuroo.

“Sorry if I freaked you out,” Kuroo apologized to the boy – Yamaguchi he corrected with a quick glance to his nametag – with a smile. “I just knew you looked familiar and couldn’t quite place it.”

“Ah, it’s no problem!” Yamaguchi replied with a nearly blinding smile. “I’m impressed you remember me even though I wasn’t even in your class.”

“Okay, you’re lucky no one is in line behind you now, but that doesn’t mean you can just chat,” Tsukishima cut in, looking incredibly uncomfortable with the situation. He turned to Kuroo with a flat stare. “What do you want to drink?”

“I’ll take a latte, unsweetened for me,” Kuroo started before looking back up at the menu helplessly. “And whatever you recommend for someone you barely know?”

Yamaguchi asked, “Who is it?” at the same time Tsukishima said, “A black coffee.”

“Ignore him,” Yamaguchi said with a roll of his eyes, ignoring Tsukishima’s affronted look. “Most the people who come here are regulars. If you point out who it is, I might be able to tell you what they’d like.”

Kuroo gave him a relieved smile and pointed to Kenma. “It’s the guy over in that corner table with the blonde hair.” Both Tsukishima and Yamaguchi turned to see, before looking back at Kuroo with wide eyes.

“You’re here with Kenma?”

“What’s he doing with you?”

Okay, seriously, did everyone know Kenma except for him?

“Uh,” Kuroo replied, not at all prepared for the questions. “We’re here working on a project together.”

“Oh, that makes more sense,” Yamaguchi said. He pulled Tsukishima to take his place in front of the cash register and looked back to Kuroo with a grin. “I know exactly what he likes to drink, so Tsukishima can ring you up.”

“I can’t believe you still have to go group projects in grad school,” he said as he rung Kuroo up. He wasn’t technically right, but Kuroo didn’t have the time to explain the difference.

He walked to the side and was pleasantly surprised by how quickly his drinks were finished. Grabbing both mugs, and practically cooing at the little heart designs on each of them, he made his way back to Kenma.

“That took longer than I expected,” Kenma said as soon as he arrived. Kuroo placed his respective mug in front of him and watch happily as Kenma’s eyebrows rose in surprise.

“Yeah, sorry about that – one of my former students works here and we were catching up a bit,” Kuroo said as he settled into his seat. He pulled his laptop out his bag and began talking excitedly as he opened it. “So, I read through the draft of your gameplay, and let me tell you, I’m so excited to start working on this.”

“You are?”

“Yeah! You’ve got some great ideas going and I’ve already come up some theories I think will help you along,” Kuroo said as he pulled up the email again. At Kenma’s silence, he looked up to find the other man just staring at him. He immediately started feeling anxious. “Um…I mean unless I wasn’t supposed to do that? Sorry, I wasn’t trying to take over or anything, I just really like what you had and—”

“No, no you’re fine,” Kenma interrupted with a shake of his head. “I just honestly didn’t think you’d actually enjoy the story.”

Kuroo blinked in surprise. “Why not?”

“It’s still really rough and still has a lot of unresolved plotlines,” Kenma replied as he turned his gaze away from Kuroo. “Plus, I know most of the science is inaccurate.”

“Yeah, but that’s why I’m here right?” Kuroo said encouragingly.

Kenma nodded slowly, and then finally pulled his mug to his lips to have his first sip. Kuroo felt all the tension leak out of his body at the action.

“Perfect,” he said, before turning his laptop so Kenma could see. “So, this is what I was thinking so far…”

-

Kuroo and Kenma soon settle into a routine. They met on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 4 to talk about his game at the same coffee shop with the agreement that it’ll be at least a 30-minute-long meeting.

So far none of their meeting have come short of an hour and a half in length. They’re the highlight of Kuroo’s week. With every meeting, Kenma’s been opening up to him more and more to the point where’s he was even comfortable with teasing Kuroo. And he was so smart and witty and funny, and Kuroo was glad that he trusted him enough to show him that side of himself.

And sure, he’s burning money he doesn’t have on drinks for him and Kenma, but Kenma often ends up paying for pastries for the two of them so he feels like it balances out.

Plus, the best part was that a good portion of their time wasn’t even spent working on Kenma’s project. They usually dedicated the first half of the meeting to that before they spiraled off and talked about anything that interested them.

In these past three weeks alone Kuroo had managed to learn that Kenma worked at a gaming design company, was getting his Master’s because the university gave him access to and training with a lot of advanced animating programs, had two kittens named Sony and Sunny, loved sweets, hated vegetables, and was thinking about starting his own YouTube channel.

And with every new thing Kuroo learned about Kenma, he found himself feeling more and more endeared to the man. He found himself looking forward to when the science talk was done just so he could learn more about him.

Though, a lot of the science talk was pretty cool.

“So, is there any chemical reaction that would cause a visually large explosion that doesn’t cause a lot of damage to the body?”

“Well if you want any explosive reaction to be precise, I’d have to know make-up of the character,” Kuroo said as he looked over Kenma’s concept art. Kenma looked up at him with a frown.

“Like, you need to see my character sheets?”

“Uh, no not really, just need their hypothetical stats – bio measurements, species, and stuff like that,” Kuroo said with a raise of his eyebrows. “But I would love to see your character sheets, I didn’t even know you had them finished.”

“I’ve had them finished long before we even started meeting,” Kenma said as he turned his laptop more towards Kuroo so he could see. He clicked around on his screen as he continued, “I haven’t really looked at them in forever, but they were the first things I made when I started coming with the game—”

And then Kenma stopped mid-speech. Not that Kuroo could blame him.

Because there on his laptop screen was a character who looked remarkably like Kuroo.

He had the same dark hair, same light brown eyes, similar build, his signature smirk, and Kenma had somehow managed to even capture his godawful bed head. Kuroo felt his jaw slacken. He didn’t want to be presumptuous, but the resemblance was truly striking.

“Um…”

“You didn’t happen to be in the faculty volleyball tournament last semester, did you?” Kenma asked with his eyes closed and a truly pained expression on his face.

“Uh, yeah I was. How did you know that?”

Kenma groaned and pressed his face into his hands while he slipped lower into his seat. “Oh my god, what are the actual odds?”

Kuroo was incredibly confused.

“Do you mind filling me in?”

“There are 15,000 people on this campus,” Kenma said into his hands. “15,000 and you’re the one who both inspired this character and are now helping with his character mechanics.”

“I inspired your character?”

Kenma sighed, and finally dropped his hands from his face. Kuroo was surprised to see the blush he’d been hiding, but not at all surprised at how much he liked it.

“I went to the faculty tournament with my friend Keiji last year,” Kenma explained, eyes looking in the complete opposite direction of Kuroo. “His boyfriend was playing, and he wanted the company. And while I was there, I saw you – not that I knew that it was _you_ – but yeah.” Kenma shot him a quick glance before looking down at the table. “But I didn’t recognize you until now. You look…different when you’re playing volleyball.”

And Kuroo had many, many questions but the first one that came out was, “Keiji? You don’t mean Akaashi Keiji, do you?”

Kenma tiled his head up in surprise. “Yeah, do you know him?”

Unbelievable.

“Okay did every person in my life know you before I got the chance to?” Kuroo asked exasperatedly as he threw his hand in the air. “Like seriously, how does that even happened?”

Kuroo didn’t think it was fair at all. How had so many of friends known Kenma, and not think to introduce the two. It felt like some sort of giant conspiracy.

He turned over to tell Kenma just as much but stilled when he saw the way his lips twitched up into a smile.

“What, don’t give me that look,” Kenma said with a roll of his eyes. Kuroo wasn’t sure what look he was talking about, but he was sure that it was disgustingly lovesick. “It’s just funny how worked up you are over it. We know each other now, right? It’s probably best we met like this.”

And Kenma was probably referring to the fact that he didn’t like crowds or spaces with a lot of people, but all Kuroo took that to mean was that he agreed that they were always destined to meet.

A ‘ping’ from his laptop pulled him from his admittedly sappy thoughts, and he looked over to check the notification.

His face dropped.

“What is it?” Kenma asked, eyes trained back on his own laptop as he pulled up the other character designs.

“My mentor wants me to come in tomorrow to go over my evaluation.”

“Oh, the one you claimed you bombed?”

“I’m not claiming anything Kenma, I know I did!” Kuroo said with a groan. “I’ve been avoiding this for forever, but now _he’s_ contacting _me_.”

“Kuro, you teach a chemistry lab with a class that’s primarily first-years,” Kenma reminded him. “Any lesson that goes by without a lost limb is probably considered a success.”

“God, I wish that were true,” Kuroo said with a halfhearted laugh before typing out a quick response to let Nekomata know he’d be there. He sighed heavily before closing the application and turning back to Kenma.

“Okay, so let’s talk baout hydrogenic atoms.”

-

Kuroo knocked on the door of Nekomata’s office with sweaty palms and his heart twisting in his chest. He heard a muffled ‘Come in!” and took a deep breath before opening the door to the sight of Nekomata typing on his computer.

Nekomata finished whatever he was in the middle of writing and then looked at to him. He immediately started smiling and waving him in. “Ah Kuroo, come in, come in.”

Kuroo walked into the office, taking it in like he did every time he came to visit. Unlike the TA office, Nekomata didn’t share the room with anyone. He had countless books lining the many shelves in his room, a small chaise pushed against the wall, and pictures of his family and mentees placed on every free shelf.

There was no one else’s office that Kuroo liked being in more.

Except for in this instance.

“Take a seat, there’s no need for you to stand,” Nekomata said as he pulled a document from his desk. Kuroo swallowed as he saw his name on the top before Nekomata turned it face down. Always a good sign. “Come, tell me how you’ve been.”

“Um, okay, I guess,” Kuroo said distractedly with his eyes trained on the paper until his words fully registered. His eyes widened and quickly dropped in the chair across from Nekomata with his hands waving in front of him. “Sorry, no, I’ve been doing good. Great. Fantastic really.”

Kuroo desperately needed to learn when not to go in on the overkill.

“I’m glad to hear that,” Nekomata laughed. “Did you get a chance to read the article I sent you about nuclear motions?”

Kuroo perked up at the question. “Yeah, I did! Wait, I actually have my notes with me in my bag…”

And from there the two of them were off discussing current research, an abstract Kuroo had due in two weeks, and the potential of Kuroo submitting his research to a conference for next Spring.

Kuroo had completely forgotten the real reason he was supposed to be meeting with Nekomata until he leaned back in his chair and flipped his evaluation back over.

“Okay, I think it’s time to go over this.”

And just like that, his good mood evaporated. Kuroo glanced down at the paper long enough to read his name again before averting his gaze to the side. He couldn’t stop himself from nervously tapping his fingers on the arm of his chair, and he desperately hoped Nekomata wouldn’t look too into it.

He wasn’t so lucky.

“Kuroo, is everything alright?”

And maybe it was the concern thick in his voice, or the fact that he’d just helped Kuroo through a lot of things he’d been worrying about for his future, or it was simply because it was Nekomata Yasafumi, the man who came to Kuroo’s elementary school to teach about the wonders of chemistry and changed his life in a few short moments. Whatever it was, Kuroo broke.

“Look, I know the class you came to see was basically a train wreck, and I’m sorry that I’ve been avoiding you since then,” Kuroo started saying rapidly. He trained his eyes on the edge of the desk so he wouldn’t have to meet Nekomata’s gaze.“I know you put a lot of effort into me, and even wrote me my letter of rec for this program and the position, and I know I probably messed up in my explanation of your article, and I’m so, so sorry that I let you down. I promise I’ll try harder, and I swear that most my classes go much better than that.”

Kuroo took a deep breath as he finished talking, and his entire body slumped into his seat. Gathering up his courage, he looked up to see Nekomata looking at him in bewilderment.

Nekomata sighed heavily, but then gave Kuroo an encouraging smile. “Goodness boy, it wasn’t your thesis defense – it was your teaching eval,” He brought the paper close to his face and began reading off. “Kuroo Tetsurou exceeded expectation for his teaching evaluation. He got the students engaged in the lesson from early on and didn’t let my presence distract him or anyone in the classroom. He encouraged a class wide discussion about a topic most of the students hadn’t even heard about and disseminated that information in way that was accessible to everyone. When the discussion went over time, he was adaptable with lesson because he prioritized letting every student have a voice than maintaining the rigidity of his lesson.”

He slid the piece of paper across the desk to Kuroo, and Kuroo inhaled sharply as he took it in. There were comments written throughout and a long note at the bottom, but what stood out to him were the 5/5 marked along every row.

“ _That_ is what being a professor is all about.”

Kuroo refused to cry in his mentor’s office, but he couldn’t stop the stinging in his eyes.

“You did an excellent job Kuroo, and I’m incredibly proud of you,” Nekomata finished.

Kuroo nodded in response, unable to come up with any words that could fully encapsulate his gratitude to his mentor.

“You’re free to stay here as long you as you like, but if you prefer to be somewhere else right now, our meeting is technically finished,” Nekomata said as he took back the evaluation and placed it in his desk. “And know that you’re always welcome in my office Kuroo.”

“Thank you so much,” Kuroo finally rasped before he stood and bowed low to Nekomata. He thanked him again and left his office feeling lightheaded. He walked far enough away that he was unlikely to run into the man again, turned a corner, and collapsed against the wall.

Taking a deep steadying breath, Kuroo let a relieved smile spread across his face. He finally let his tears fall down his cheeks, but he was laughing in relief through it all. He couldn’t even put into words how happy he was.

Taking one more deep breath and wiping at his eyes, he reached into his pocket, pulled out his phone, scrolled through a bit, and then hit call.

“Kenma! Hey, I know it’s not our usual time, but are you free right now?”

-

“I told you that you were doing a good job.”

“That is the only I told you so I’m letting you get away with saying that,” Kuroo said as he happily bit into his chocolate croissant. “And it’s only because I’m in such a good mood.”

“Lucky me,” Kenma said dryly as he took a bite of his own apple pie. He waited to swallow before continuing, “I am really happy. For you, I mean. I know you were really stressed out about this…”

Kenma trailed off his sentence, and Kuroo felt his entire chest warm.

“Thanks, it really means a lot,” Kuroo said, dipping low to meet Kenma’s eyes. “Really, I mean it. Which is why I’m a little upset about my next piece of news.”

Kenma furrowed his brow at him, and Kuroo sighed.

“I don’t think I’m going to be able to meet with you next week. I’ve been too stressed out to plan next weeks’ lessons and need the extra time,” he admitted ruefully. He didn’t want to cancel at all but knew that his crush on Kenma couldn’t outweigh his responsibility to his students.

“Oh, that’s fine I understand,” Kenma said. He lifted another piece of pie to his lips, but then paused. “If these meetings are getting in the way—”

“No, no, they’re absolutely not,” Kuroo interrupted urgently. “I’m just a bit of a mess this week, and honestly don’t even know what’s on the syllabus for next week.” Kuroo paused when he realized that he wasn’t even exaggerating and groaned as he leaned back in his seat. “God, I can’t even remember what the name of thing we’re supposed to be talking about is. It’s like what’s made when you mix water, oil, and surfactant that I’m supposed to be able to know the name of by heart because it’s an intro to chemistry class and I’m trying to get my PhD.”

And Kuroo was basically ranting at this point, so he was completely caught off guard when Kenma said, “Microemulsions?”

Kuroo shot up in his seat.

“Yes, thank you!” he said gratefully before he realized what had happened. “Wait. We never talked about that – how do you know what that is?”

“I went to an art restoration lecture for an assignment recently, and it’s a really common mixture for it,” Kenma said dully, as if him casually filling in for Kuroo’s nonsensically rambling with the exact word he’d been looking for was nothing impressive.

He stared at Kenma for another moment, and his mouth was moving before his head could catch up to him.

“How would you feel about coming into my class as a guest lecturer?”

Kenma blinked in surprise at him. “Me?”

“Yeah, you,” Kuroo replied with a laugh. His heart was already picking up pace because if this worked, he wouldn’t have to cancel on Kenma at all. “It’d be really good for the students to see the ways chemistry can be applied in other fields.”

“But I don’t know anything about quantum chemistry, or hydrogenic atoms, or—”

“It’s an intro to chemistry lab – you don’t need to know that,” Kuroo said, Nekomata’s encouragement still lingering in the back of his mind. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to of course. But I could take any and all questions, and we could work together on figuring out a cool experiment to do with them.”

Kenma hummed consideringly, and Kuroo placed his hand on his leg to stop it from bouncing. He hadn’t ever considered this before, but now that he had, he desperately hoped Kenma would agree. Just the thought of teaching with him sounded like so much fun, and he was sure his students would love him.

“How about we brainstorm on some experiment ideas first,” Kenma finally said. He was smiling softly at Kuroo, and he felt his breath catch in this throat at the sight. “If we actually come up with something I can do and that matches your syllabus, then I’ll do it.”

“Yes!” Kuroo exclaimed, standing up in his seat. “Yes, that definitely works! I’ll go get you another hot chocolate, and we can start working immediately.”

Kuroo nearly tripped over his chair in his haste, but he couldn’t help it. He was excited about the prospect of working with Kenma in his classroom!

So excited that he didn’t see the overly fond expression Kenma was sending his way.

**Author's Note:**

> i don’t even know what a quantom IS
> 
> here is my [twitter](https://twitter.com/neenswrites)  
> pls come say hi!
> 
> fun fact: i have cried MULTIPLE TIMES in my mentor’s office – its what makes grad school SO FUN 
> 
> but more importantly, to be continued…………..


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